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New Jersey Devils star Ilya Kovalchuk has struggled in the first game of each playoff series this spring.

The 29-year-old winger had little to show for 21 minutes 13 seconds of ice time Wednesday in New Jersey's 2-1 overtime loss in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final against the Los Angeles Kings. He had no points and just one shot.

Kovalchuk has been a potential gamebreaker, but he didn't seem to get much room against the Kings, as defencemen Rob Scuderi and Drew Doughty seemed to be on the choppy ice whenever Kovalchuk was out there.

Devils coach Peter DeBoer said he wasn't worrying about matchups or trying to keep Kovalchuk away from Doughty, who had the most ice time of any player in Game 1 at 28:15.

When asked if it was Doughty being that good or Kovalchuk struggling along with his team, DeBoer replied: "A little bit of both."

DeBoer said he expected Doughty to continue getting plenty of playing time.

"There's no getting away from that," DeBoer said. "This time of year, you've got to play head-to-head against good players and you've got to win those battles. That's the bottom line."

He said he has been happy with Kovalchuk's effort and his attention to his defensive game, for the most part.

"I think (players need) just more of a commitment, you know, an understanding that you have to play a 200-foot game at this time of the year in order to win," DeBoer said. "Everybody's doing it. The good teams that survive this long don't get here unless everyone's committed to doing that. He's definitely getting better. He still has work to do, but he's making that commitment."

After a slow start to the season that was not up to the expectations placed on either Doughty or the Kings, both have rebounded over the past few months. Doughty looks to be on top of his game again and appears headed for a number of confrontations with Kovalchuk.

"He has a lot of speed and I'm aware of that," Doughty said. "I know he likes to get open and take that shot. My main objective is not giving him a lot of room, not let him have those open areas, and I want to play him hard. I'm going to do everything I can to take him out of the series."

In Game 1 against the Los Angeles Kings, Ilya Kovalchuk continued his trend of struggling in series openers. Here are Kovalchuk's numbers in the first game of each series: